Top standouts from Major League Soccer are included with unique inserts devoted to women’s stars like Marta, Amy Rodriguez and Abby Wambach

Carlsbad, CA (April 26, 2011) – The Upper Deck Company, the industry leader in sports trading cards, has just released its exclusive 2011 Upper Deck Soccer set featuring the greatest players in Major League Soccer (MLS). The set, headlined by Upper Deck’s newly inked exclusive Soccer Spokesman Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy, includes the league’s top stars including Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez (New York Red Bulls), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Charlie Davies (D.C. United), and Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes). What’s more, the set includes special subset and insert cards highlighting many of the top players competing in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) including five-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year Marta (Western New York Flash), Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence), Abby Wambach (magicJack) and Leslie Osborne (Boston Breakers).

“This is a terrific set of soccer cards,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s vice president of Marketing. “Fans will get their first chance to collect cards of new MLS stars like Henry, Marquez and Davies, in addition to current stars like Landon [Donovan]. As always, we’ve pinpointed the biggest names in Major League Soccer, but we’ve also included a coveted collection of autographed cards and game jersey cards from these players that will surely get soccer fans everywhere excited.”

Donovan, who was just named MLS Player of the Week, has seven different cards appearing in the set, including autographed and game-used jersey variations. On average, collectors will pull four memorabilia cards and one autographed card featuring a start-studded assortment of players from every box!

The 200-card base set includes 175 standard MLS cards, along with 12 WPS regular cards and two subsets: “MLS Super Draft” (10 cards) and “WPS Draft” (three). But it’s the revered lineup of insert cards that will keep soccer fans cracking pack after pack. The “MLS Marks” (58) autograph cards, for example, include signatures from players including Donovan, Juan Pablo Angel and Donovan Ricketts from the LA Galaxy; Brad Davis and Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo; Wondolowski, Bobby Convey and Ryan Johnson from the San Jose Earthquakes; and Steve Zakuani and Kasey Keller from Seattle Sounders FC. A total of 18 players featured in the “WPS Marks” autographed lineup include Marta, Rodriguez, Wambach and Osborne, along with Christine Sinclair (Western New York Flash) and goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart (Philadelphia Independence).

Upper Deck’s 2011 Soccer set, which includes 12 cards per pack and 20 packs per box, is currently on store shelves.

About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com.

About Major League Soccer

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. MLS features many stars from the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Major League Soccer’s 16th season, which will feature 18 clubs each playing 34 regular season matches, kicked off on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The 18 clubs are: Chicago Fire; Chivas USA; 2010 MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids; Columbus Crew; D.C. United; FC Dallas; Houston Dynamo; LA Galaxy; New York Red Bulls; New England Revolution; Philadelphia Union; Real Salt Lake; San Jose Earthquakes; Seattle Sounders FC; Sporting Kansas City; Toronto FC; and, in their inaugural seasons, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. An expansion team in Montreal will debut in 2012. For more information about MLS, log on to the League’s official website at www.MLSsoccer.com.

About Women’s Professional Soccer

Women’s Professional Soccer is the world’s best soccer league for women, featuring stars from the U.S. National team and around the globe. In 2011, WPS will feature a six-team league playing 18-games each from April through August for the chance to qualify for the WPS Playoffs. The top team in the regular season will earn the right to host the WPS Championship presented by Citi as the top seed on August 27. The six teams include Atlanta Beat, Boston Breakers, Philadelphia Independence, Sky Blue FC (New Jersey), magicJack (South Florida) and Western New York Flash.